Why Does Identity Matter

To many people identity can mean many different things, but ultimately when people are asked to define identity they say something along the lines of “identity makes them who they are”, or in other words “distinguishing character or personality of an individual” (google). So if someone’s identity defines him or her as a person we come to the next question: Is identity important? Does what distinguishes character and personality really matter or do people make a bigger deal about it than it actually is? Identity gives people confidence, it gives them a sense of belonging, it keeps people from falling into an identity crisis, people with a strong identity are likely to have a better health and identity makes people who they are; identity is important.

One day two cops come knocking on her door and they told her that her husband and the father to her young daughter has been killed in a car accident. At that moment her world was turned upside down. She did not know what to do, besides her daughter he was everything to her. She had to explain to her daughter that daddy would not be coming home ever again that he would not see her grow up and become what she wanted to be. Instead of trying to get through the problem she ran from it. She left her daughter with her parents and went to bars. She then would consider her identity to be “widow, alone and broken”. She was trying to find herself because she believed that she lost everything. It almost took losing her daughter to make her realize she still had something to live for. To this day she would consider her identity to be “mother, father, and everything in between””(Mom, personal interview). Death can change someone’s identity drastically. Especially during the time period that people are trying to cope with the

Someone who moves can have his/her identity changed based on the location to which him/her move to. Someone who moves to a gang, drug and alcohol infested area may have his/her identity changed for the worst, or someone who moves to an upper class area may have his/her identity changed for the better. If they get caught up in a gang, a what was once a “kind, nonviolence” person is now considered a threat to society. Someone who gets caught up in drugs, who once was “an athlete and wished to do something important with their life” is now someone who does not care about anything and is just looking for his/her next high. Someone who gets caught up in alcohol, who was once “someone who had big dreams for their life” is now sitting in a prison cell for drunk driving. On the other hand someone who moves to an upper class society and who may have once been “someone who thought their dreams would never be reached” is now living his/her biggest dreams and enjoying every minute of it. The environment that someone is in can change their identity. Identity makes someone who they are, so when someone is sure of an identity he/she has confidence. “If you are confident you would worry less and you would believe in you abilities to succeed in whatever you do”(Maku). Someone with confidence in his/her identity will be happier and less stressed. Having a strong identity can help someone believe that he/she can overcome the most difficult